New on the forum and working with Arduino, (just bought a starter kit) I am interesting in the feasibility of this project.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Would like to build a remotely control boat.
Arduino will need to control:
48V Electric motor (forward-neutral-reverse + speed)
12V linear actuator (in - out)
I would like to be able to control the boat with my phone.
I already wrote a very basic app that include videos coming from a camera installed on the boat.
To increase the range I would like to integrate a dongle and be able to control Arduino through internet.
Is it a very advanced project ??
Any suggestion welcome!!
Thanks again
The use of a 48v motor suggests a boat that is big enough to carry people. I suggest that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should the boat be wirelessly controlled with people on board.
Boats are not easy to control as they are affected by winds and currents and the wash from other boats. Even if there are no people on board a boat can do a lot of damage if it is out of control. And unlike a road or rail vehicle it will not stop if you turn off the motor.
As to range, I suspect it is illegal in most places to operate a wireless controlled vehicle beyond line of sight.
A novice myself, I'd say this seems quite ambitious for a first project, with apparently very high stakes (48V motor, whoo!).
As for connecting to the internet, it is probably more worth it to go for a dedicated GSM shield.
I agree with both Robin and Pippadi on this subject.
If it is your first foray into Arduino then it is certainly a quite advanced subject to attempt.
Safety would be one of my major concerns as you did not provide enough detail for anyone to say otherwise.
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Most people would simply adapt a 12 volt trolling motor for this task as it is often more suited to such a project and only 12 volts.
There are plenty of examples of this on the web.
Also depending on the size of the boat (total unknown at this stage) some simple model assemblies may suffice.
48 volts is going to be very power hungry to say the least and with an UNKNOWN RPM then quite possibly dangerous to life and limb.
Mounting a prop on an unknown motor may also cause problems in and of itself.
As pointed out Line Of Sight (LOS) is a major factor in many countries.
Also most "hobby" GPS have a wide range of tolerance so your GPS path may be completely off what you expect.
There are simply too many "UNKNOWN" factors here to offer you valid advice.
11roberto11:
Would like to build a remotely control boat.
Arduino will need to control:
48V Electric motor (forward-neutral-reverse + speed)
Assuming the motor does not have its own speed/direction control built in, that probably requires an H-bridge based motor controller that can handle at least 48V, and whatever stall current your motor has.
12V linear actuator (in - out)
Depending on the actuator likely another H-bridge.
I would like to be able to control the boat with my phone.
That requires some form of wireless communication from your phone, that can reliably cover the distance that boat has to travel away from you.
You will also have to include some kind of watchdog signal, so the boat knows when the connection is lost and can switch off its motor (and eventually come to a stop).
You probably also need some kind of battery monitoring, so you know when you run low on battery and can recover the boat before you run out of power.
Is it a very advanced project ??
Yes.
Wireless control & high voltage motor both are not trivial at all. That 48V indeed implies a pretty big (or fast) boat, which means there may be serious safety issues as well. Start with a small boat - 12V motor, light weight, moderate speed, so even if it goes full power out of control it can't do any significant damage, particularly to other people or other people's property. Only when that is working absolutely reliably you should think of something that has the potential to do damage.
How it the motor going to propel the boat? Do you have an in/out-board unit to attach it to? Pr you going to use a shaft through the transom to attach a propeller? And build a sealed bearing to pass the shaft through the transom?
Hello!
Thanks for the input and SORRY for the missing information.
I already considered all the Safety aspect and I take full responsibility.
The project will be develop and test in private property.
I am writing on this forum only to understand how to use Arduino.
Thank you for your help!
The engine: is indeed a trolling engine. A very small outboard DC engine powered by 48V batteries
I have this motor and would like to start experimenting with it.
It has a built in speed and “gear” control.
I would like to learn how to connect it to Arduino.
The boat: is a 3.5 meter tender.
I have this boat and I would like to use it for the project.
I was thinking of a smaller boat but was difficult to accommodate the batteries.
On a manned test the maximum speed was incredibly low, around 2 kts or less than 4km/h
The steering: I was thinking about 12v linear actuator. To control this need a H bridge.
I was reading about the L298N....
Any suggestion welcome.
Also would like to learn how to remotely connect Arduino with an app.
The internet interface:
The range and reliability of Bluetooth or WiFi is to small for me.
I would like not to use RF as I would like to control the boat from my phone.
I would like to have the possibility to receive images.
At the moment the boat will not be GPS controlled
The watchdog option proposed wvmarle proposed by Wvmarle is a very good idea!
I don’t think, at the moment, a battery level indicator is necessary.
Please let me know if more info are needed!!
Thanks for point me in the right direction and if you can send me the links of similar projects I will be really happy to learn from them!!
Please step away from the report to moderator button unless it is an obvious infraction of rules.
Petty reports such as yours may have the opposite effect.
11roberto11:
Not the same but something similar to this:
"similar" is useless. What you think is a minor difference may actually make a world of difference controlling it. For suggestions on how to control the thing we need ACTUAL specifications.
The steering: I was thinking about 12v linear actuator. To control this need a H bridge.
I was reading about the L298N....
Old and lossy desgign; should be considered obsolete.
But again to suggest an H-bridge that is suitable we need ACTUAL specificiations - link to the datasheet of the actuator you want to use.
Well, as you have already shot down the obvious one (WiFi) which is also the only one I can think of as having the bandwidth for video, I have to ask you.
Now you even say WiFi is too short range, that pretty much implies you intend to run your boat out of visual range - WiFi with line of sight easily reaches 100-200m, with a decent antenna you can get quite a bit more. So now we not only have a remote controlled 3.5m dingy with pretty powerful motor, it's even operating out of sight!
Please let us know where you live and where you intend to run this boat, as that's going to be a no-go zone for the time being.
Looks like just at 200 meter the user experience some cut out... I would like to avoid this...
I was thinking about using internet with GSM? What is your opinion about this??
As for the question “how to communicate with the boat” I was hoping not for a polemic answer but to actually know how to interface Arduino with a remote control. Are there tools i am not aware off... sorry for the silly questions...
LoRa would give you extended control range but I doubt you could cover video as well.
BTW most of the Arduinos that would suit a remote application simply don't have what is needed to also handle video.
Video would probably have to be in some other form on a seperate feed.
If you really want to do this you may want to forget about using Arduinos and simple buy some pro RC gear.
It will cost you, but with the right selection of equipment you will get Video and range.
Oh and that video is nothing more than a toy with FPV.
There’s a lot of unknowns to approach this.
As a maker of 30+ years, the story so far only explains vaguely what you want to do.
The project is fairly complex even if everything’s on the table, but with the unknowns - and lack of experience, it’s probably doomed, or will take a couple of years to come together with a lot of help.
Although still no exact details as everyone else has mentioned...
And again a TOY not a pro application and certainly nothing Arduino related at this point.
I have never owned or even used a trolling motor. But, I suspect there are as many ways of controlling the motor speed as there are brands of motors. One thing for sure, there is never a need to reverse the motor, just turn it 180 degrees.
